The use of Taiwanese Mandarin "hui"

Revision as of 03:14, 8 January 2018 by ChenShishuang (talk | contribs)
Chinese-grammar-wiki-hui.jpg

In standard Mandarin, (huì) is considered an auxiliary verb, but in Taiwan 会 has an additional usage associated with asking simple yes/no questions.

Structure

Subj. + 会 + [Verb Phrase] + 吗 ?

Examples

The following examples shows the differences between Taiwanese Mandarin and Standard Mandarin.

  • 你 会 冷 吗 ?means 你冷不冷 ?Are you cold?
  • 这个 会 辣 吗 ?means 这个 辣不辣 ?Is this spicy?

会 in this context is equivalent to the English verb "to be." However, it’s the adjective to follow 会 is usually negative. So you would never say 这会好吃吗?because most people like to eat delicious food. If you do say this, the speaker is usually expressing doubt. This usage of 会 can confuse native Chinese speakers as well as Chinese learners. Some could think that the 会 is referring to things in the future or conditional.

See also

Sources and further reading

Websites

HSK5